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THE      DRAMA 

OF 

EIGHT    DAYS 

JUNE    22nd    to    JUNE    29th,     1922 


How  war  was  waged  on  Ireland 

with  an  economy  of 

English  Lives 


AS    RELATED    BY 

GENERAL  SIR  NEVIL  MACREADY 

MR.  WINSTON  CHURCHILL 

AND 

MR.  LLOYD  GEORGE 


t 


Lovers  of  Liberty 

You  can  best  support  the  existing 
Irish  Republic  and  work  for  its 
recognition  by  joining  the  Ameri- 
can Association  for  the  Recognition 
of  the  Irish  Republic. 

If  there  is  not  already  a  Council 
in  your  district — Start  one. 

Write  for  particulars  to 

JOSEPH  BEGLEY,  Secretary 
Irish  Republican  Headquarters 

3  East  42nd  Street  New  York  City 


SRU- 
'JRl 


THE    DRAMA  OF  EIGHT    DAYS 


PROLOGUE:  THE  PLOT  DEVISED 

London  :  The  House  of  Lords.  8//t  March,  1922. 

Lord  Birkenhead  said :  "The  Provisional  Government  i« 
sanguine  enough  to  believe  that  with  the  passage  of  a  littl* 
time,  they  will  be  strong  enough  to  deal  with  the  rebels 
from  their  authority.  ...  I  would  far  rather  that  they 
were  undertaking  that  task  than  that  we  were,  and  I  be- 
lieve that  if  the  task  is  effectively  and  successfully  carried 
out  by  them  the  fact  that  it  should  be  done  by  them  and 
not  by  us,  will  have  resulted  in  an  economy  of  English 
lives." 

THE  CONSPIRATORS  MEET 

Dublin.  April,  1922. 

General  Macready  writes :  "On  the  4th  April  I  went  to 
see  Collins  at  his  request.  .  .  .  The  two  things  that 
Collins  wanted  were  barracks  and  arms.  ...  In  order 
to  meet  his  views  I  arranged  to  hold  on  to  Youghal,  near 
Cork,  for  a  short  time  longer  until  his  affairs  were  more  in 
order.  Eventually  Collins  received  all  the  arms  he  asked 
for.     .     .    . 

"The  day  after  Rorv  O'Connor's  men  had  seized  the  Four 
Courts  and  other  buildings  I  wrote  to  Michael  Collins  ask- 
ing what  action  he  proposed  to  take.  .  .  .  The  following 
day  Cope  came  to  tell  me  that  Collins  could  not  reply  to 
my  letter  in  writing,  but  had  deputed  him  to  explain  the 
line  of  action  which  the  Provisional  Government  wished 
pursued.     ... 

"In  the  meantime  the  demands  for  arms  and  military 
appliances  by  the  Provisional  Government  became  daily 
more  insistent,  and  were  supported  by  Cope." 


THE    TRAGEDY. 

First  Day,  Thursday 

Dublin.  June  2.2nd. 

General  Macready  continues :  "At  6  p.  m.  on  22nd  June 
I  reached  the  Royal  Hospital,  to  be  greeted  with  the  news 
of  the  murder  of  Sir  Henry  Wilson  in  London.  .  .  . 
There  was,  so  far  as  I  am  aware,  no  evidence  to  connect 
the  two  men  directly  with  De  Valera  or  Rory  O'Connor. . . . 

"An  hour  after  I  heard  the  sad  news  a  telegram  arrived 
calling  me  over  to  London." 

Second  Day,  Friday 

London.  June  2yd. 

"I  went  straight  to  Downing  Street.  .  .  I  confess  that 
I  was  somewhat  taken  aback  when  asked  if  the  Dublin 
Four  Courts,  in  which  Rory  O'Connor  had  been  established 
with  his  Republicans  for  the  last  two  months,  could  be 
captured  at  once  by  the  British  troops." 

Third  Day,  Saturday 

Dublin.  June  24th. 

"Soon  after  arriving  in  Dublin,  and  while  I  was  going 
over  the  details  of  the  scheme  with  General  Boyd,  whose 
troops  could  carry  out  the  operation  if  it  materialised,  a 
telegram  came  ordering  it  to  be  put  into  effect  the  next 
day." 

Fourth  Day,  Sunday 
Dublin.  June  2$th. 

"On  the  following  day  word  came  through  from  London 
that  the  Government  had  reconsidered  their  original  de- 
cision and  that  no  action  was  to  be  taken  against  the  Four 
Courts — I  have  never  ceased  to  congratulate  myself  on 
having  been  an  instrument  in  staving  off  what  would 
have  been  a  disaster." 

London.  Same  day. 

"The  Army  Council  and  the  Cabinet,  with  the  exception 
of  the  originator  of  the  scheme,  heaved  a  sigh  of  relief 
when  wiser  counsels  prevailed." 


Fiftk  Day,  M«*day 

London:     The  House  of  Commons.  June  26th 

Mr.  Churchill  said :  "The  presence  in  Dublin,  in  violent 
occupation  of  the  Four  Courts  of  a  band  of  men  styling 
themselves  the  Headquarters  of  the  Republican  Executive 
is  a  gross  breach  and  defiance  of  the  Treaty.  The  time 
has  come  when  it  is  not  unfair,  premature  or  impatient  to 
make  the  strengthened  Irish  Government  and  new  Irish 
Parliament  a  request  in  express  terms  that  this  sort  of  thing 
must  come  to  an  end-.  If  it  does  not  come  to  an  end  .  .  . 
if  it  is  not  brought  to  an  end  and  a  speedy  end  .  .  .  then 
it  is  my  duty,  on  behalf  of  H.M.  Government,  to  say  that 
the  Treaty  has  been  formally  violated." 

Mr.  Lloyd  George,  in  the  same  debate,  said :  "To  permit 
it  (the  occupation  of  the  Four  Courts}  to  go  on  is  weakness, 
which  lowered  the  prestige  and  authority  of  the  Provisional 
Government.  I  do  not  want  to  use  the  language  of  menace, 
but  it  is  essential  that  that  should  be  brought  to  an  end,  and 
speedily.  The  British  Government  had  indicated  their  views 
to  the  Provisional  Government.  I  do  not  want  to  give  de- 
tails of  communications." 


Sixth  Day,  Tuesday 

Dublin.  June  27th. 

General  Macready  continues  his  narrative :  "Through 
representations  to  London  by  Cope,  I  received  instructions 
to  hand  over  two  18-pounder  field  guns  to  the  Provisional 
Government  with  a  reasonable  supply  of  ammunition,  of 
which  only  sufficient  for  our  needs  was  on  hand.  .  .  . 
Although  the  Provisional  Government  wanted  the  guns  they 
were  not  at  all  sure  that  they  had  any  men  who  could  work 
them,  nor  was  it  to  become  known  until  they  were  in  action 
that  the  British  Government  had  loaned  them. 

"In  the  end  General  Dalton,  the  one  man  who  among 
Collins's  officers  had  any  knowledge  of  such  things,  came 
up  after  dark  to  our  artillery  lines  with  some  motor  lorries, 
on  the  tails  of  which  the  guns  were  hitched  and  taken  down 
into  town." 


Seventh  Day,  Wednesday 

Dublin.  June  2&th. 

"At  4  a.  m.  the  next  morning  the  noise  began. 

".  .  .  During  the  day  two  more  18-pounders  were 
asked  for  and  handed  over  to  Collins's  men,  and  by  the 
evening  they  had  fired  away  all  the  ammunition. 

"On  the  previous  day  (June  27th)  I  had  sent  a  destroyer 
to  Carrickfergus  for  some  ammunition,  and  telegraphed 
to  England  for  more,  and  also  for  guns  to  replace  those 
handed  over  to  the  Provisional  Government,  but  neither 
the  one  nor  the  other  had  arrived  on  28th.  When,  that 
evening,  in  answer  to  frantic  te1ephone  messages  from  Cope 
and  from  'General'  O'Duffy,  who  apparently  had  replaced 
the  kidnapped  O'Connell  as  Commander-in-Chief,  I  told 
them  they  would  have  to  wait  till  next  day  for  more  high- 
explosive  shell,  the\-  metaphorically  turned  their  faces  to 
the  wall  and  gave  up  the  enterprise  as  lost.  O'Duffy  did 
not  fail  to  tell  me  it  was  my  fault,  and  that  he  would  tele- 
graph to  Mr.  Churchill  to  sav  so,  an  Irishism  for  which  I 
was  quite  prepared. 

"I  then  asked  if  Dalton  could  be  sent  to  me.  The  poor 
man  arrived  about  9.30  p.  m.,  thoroughly  worn  out,  but  full 
of  fight.  After  he  had  got  outside  a  drink  or  two  he  told 
me  his  story.     .     .     . 

"I  have  already  said  that  Dalton  had  seen  service  in  the 
Great  War,  and  while  entirely  agreeing  with  me  that  they 
would  never  take  the  Four  Courts  by  shooting  at  them,  he 
sa'd  he  could  not  get  his  men  to  risk  their  lives  in  an  assault, 
which  from  our  experience  of  their  tactics  I  could  well  be- 
lieve. .  .  .  P.efore  he  left  I  agreed  to  send  him  fifty 
rounds  of  shrapnel,  which  was  all  we  had  left,  simply  to 
make  a  noise  through  the  night,  as  he  was  afraid  that  if  the 
guns  stopped  firing  his  men  would  get  disheartened  and 
clear  off. 

"Accordingly,  about  every  quarter  of  an  hour  during  the 
night  a  shrapnel  broke  up  against  the  walls  of  the  Four 
Courts." 


Eighth  Day,  Thursday 
Dublin.  /utM  2<)th,  102 2 

"On  the  following  day  one  of  these  shrapnel  burst  over 
the  Royal  Hospital  (British  Headquarters).  Shortly  after- 
wards an  apology  arrived  from  which  it  appeared  that  the 
gun  had  gone  off  by  mistake.     .     .     . 

"On  the  afternoon  of  29th  Tune  I  went  to  the  Provisional 
Government  offices  to  see  Michael  Collins,  and  to  discuss 
the  heavy  demands  he  had  made  through  Cope  for  arms 
and  other  engines  of  war.  Mulcahy  was  with  him,  and 
they  at  once  started  complaining  that  their  want  of  sua 
was  due  to  the  lack  of  gun  ammunition.  I  told  them  that 
we  had  not  anticipated  such  demands,  especially  as  from 
the  press  they  seemed  to  be  getting  on  so  well  in  the  country, 
and  were  so  desirous  that  all  the  British  troops  should  clem 
out,  which  led  us  to  reduce  our  stocks,  a  little  thrust  which 
Collins  appreciated,  but  T  am  afraid  it  was  lost  on  Mulcahy, 
who  had  not  his  comrade's  sense  of  humour. 

.  .  .  At  the  same  time  I  impressed  on  Collins  that 
no  amount  of  bombarding  would  sTet  the  rebels  out  of  the 
Four  Courts,  as  they  were  probably  smoking  and  drinking 
in  safetv  in  the  cellars,  and  that  unless  an  assault  was  made, 
preferably  at  night,  when  the  gates  could  be  blown  in  with 
out  much  loss,  thev  might  go  on  for  ever. 

"On  the  way  back  to  the  Royal  Hospital,  we  were  sniped 
by  a  nest  of  Republicans  on  the  South  Circular  Road.  I  in- 
formed Collins,  who  had  them  turned  out  and  burned  the 
house.     .     .     . 


England.  .  Same  day. 

Sir  L.  Worthington  Evans,  Secretary  for  War,  sneaking 
at  Colchester,  said:  "The  British  Government  had  told  Mr. 
Collins  and  Mr.  Griffith  that  they  had  got  to  govern  01 

They  have  commenced  to  govern  and  have  started  to  kick 
the  rebels  out  of  the  Four  Courts." 


I 


EPILOGUE:  LOYAL   ALLIES 

(From  General  Macready's  Narrative.) 

"The  South  side  of  ■  the  Liffey  was  cleared  up  by  3rd 
July,  but  De  Valera,  Cathal  Brugha,  and  some  desperadoes 
still  held  hotels  and  other  buildings.  .  .  .  During  these 
days  I  received  constant  wires  and  instructions  to  supply 
Collins  with  rifles,  ammunition  and  other  armament — it 
struck  me  that  the  need  had  been  somewhat  exaggerated  by 
the  nervous  excitement  of  Cope  and  the  Colonial  officials. 
.  .  .  As  a  matter  of  fact  the  Provisional  Government  was 
amply  supplied  with  everything  they  required  to  bring  the 
Republican  gunmen  under  control." 

THE  CROWNING  TRIUMPH 

"In  William  Cosgrave  and  Richard  Mulcahv  two  men 
stepped  forward  who,  if  they  did  not  at  first  inspire  uni- 
versal confidence,  proved  for  a  time  loyal  to  their  obliga- 
tions towards  the  British  Government,  and  determined  to 
assert  their  authority  in  their  own  country  by  means  far 
more  drastic  than  any  which  the  British  Government  dared 
to  impose  during  the  worst  period  of  the  rebellion." 


Thus,  to  the  Empire's  satisfaction,  was  Lloyd  George's 
"Treaty"  justified,  Churchill's  war-making  successful,  and 
Lord  Birkenhead's  dream  fulfilled. 


